WHO has published the Regional Framework for the future of mental health in the Western Pacific 2023-2030 in June.
The Framework overall aims are to promote the highest level of mental health for all people in the Region, and was endorsed by the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific in October 2022.
Envisioned to support Member States in designing national strategies, plans, and policies on mental health, the Framework also looks to strengthen political advocacy for greater resources and commitment, and to encourage coordination and collaboration among partners in order to build back better and fairer, creating mental health systems that are more resilient for the future. The framework acknowledges that good mental health is integral to the well-being of everyone, and that promoting and protecting mental health is also critical to a well-functioning society.
In the Framework, WHO writes that the Western Pacific Region has seen profound effects of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on day to day life. This can create momentum for profound changes to the way that health services support mental health and well-being. To support all people, WHO urged all WHO Member States to use the Regional Framework as a guide to Refocus, Transform and Embed.
WHO outlined three directional strategies to describe the way forward for the mental health agenda in the Western Pacific Region;
The Framework is now available online here https://www.who.int/westernpacific/publications-detail/9789290620075
Calls for changes to attitudes, actions and approaches to mental health.
WHO will officially launch the World Mental Health Report 2022 online and invites all stakeholders to join on Friday 17 June, 2022, 2pm Central European Time.
The detailed work provides a blueprint for governments, academics, health professionals, civil society and others with an ambition to support the world in transforming mental health.
In the document, the benefits of change are outlined, showing that committing to mental health is an investment into a better life and future for all. Investing in mental health means investing in strategies to: ensure access to effective, quality, affordable mental health care for all; tackle stigma, discrimination and abuse; and address underlying social and economic realities that shape people’s mental health.
The report reiterates that there is a core set of cost–effective interventions for priority mental health interventions that are feasible, affordable and appropriate. Digital technologies can strengthen mental health systems by providing tools to inform and educate the public, train and support health care workers, deliver remote care, and enable self- help.
Importantly, the report focuses on people with lived experience, who are important agents of change in increasing awareness and acceptance of mental health conditions among the general public. Community-based mental health care is more accessible and acceptable than institutional care, helps prevent human rights violations, and delivers better recovery outcomes for people with mental health conditions.
The Official Launch will be held on June 17. 14:00 – 15:30 Central European Time
Register: https://who.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_be9aDv1_QuiigKtX004OqQ
If this time zone means you are not able to attend live, the launch will be later available as an online recording with the report.
As we celebrate Mental Health Month, Professor Chee Ng spoke with English language Asian news network CAN about some of the regional impacts of COVID-19 and social restrictions.
Healthscope Professor of Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Director WHO Collaborating Centre in Mental Health, Professor Ng reiterated long standing calls for increasing resources and addressing service development needs.
“We need to ensure that a mental health response is well integrated to any COVID response so that mental health and social care can be provided to COVID survivors, contacts, close family members, frontline workers as well as the broader communities”
To watch go to the CNA link:
Oct 2021 – Asia First – Fri 8 Oct 2021 – meWATCH
The 8th conference for Creating Futures is online from 21-22 July 2021. With central sites at Fiji, Vanuatu, Samoa, FSM, Kiribati, PNG, Tonga and Solomon Islands, CF21 is an exciting new model of online engagement for the region.
Over eighteen years Creating Futures has evolved from a conference to a movement that seeks to harness experience, expertise, innovation and goodwill to build the capacities necessary to improve the mental health status of disadvantaged populations in Australasia and the Western Pacific. It exists as an independent, task-focused collaboration of individuals and institutions built on a foundation of relationships of trust across time, terrain, sectors and special interests.
St. Vincent’s Mental Health is proud to be a CF21 partner and to contribute to the resources and expertise that the Creating Futures movement offers. This movement to address the shortage and inequitable distribution of specialist resources is especially important for mental health services facing rising demands and complexities in 2021.
The conference is free to attend and further information and registration can be found here: https://creatingfutures.org.au/
Book of Proceedings for the 1st Asia Pacific Symposium of Optimal Health Program. This event was held on 15 October 2019 in Putrajaya, featuring expertise from Malaysia, Indonesia, China and Australia.
The symposium was a platform that brought together health professionals and consumers to discuss Optimal Health Program (OHP) service development and research in the Asia Pacific region. OHP champions from Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and China shared valuable presentations, as well as insights through discussions and poster sessions, focusing on integrating wellness and recovery concepts in healthcare.
The 2021 Ophelia Training will conclude on Wednesday 30 June, with over 100 Pacific Island health workers over the last 12 weeks attending the sessions online, and learning together about the mental health issues that affect children and young people. Ophelia- which stands for Online Pacific Health Exchange- is a short course in delivering child and adolescent mental health services, with a structure that allows interdisciplinary networking and a focus on sharing best practices and evidenced based health care.
As a response to travel restrictions, Ophelia was first piloted in 2020, St. Vincent’s Mental Health, Royal Australia and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, and the Fiji National University, College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences. The partners have expanded the course for 2021, now featuring;
The participants in the 2021 group have gathered from a wider range of health settings, and bring varying levels of experience. With an expanding technological capacity in the Pacific generally, the participants are from major centres and rural health settings in Fiji, Solomon Islands, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, Kiribati, Vanuatu, Marshall Islands. Some are accessing the training with their first few years of working in mental health, others have more than 15 years experience.
“Thank you for this session. I am sitting and listening and realised that I have come a long way.”(Ophelia Participant)
At times, the technology has created difficulties, but the group are growing in confidence and capacity, as well as persistence. Being able to record the didactic sections of the presentation, and sharing the resources after the sessions has been helpful, although not as good as being able to talk with each other.
“Thank you everybody ,really enjoyed the session but my connectivity was a bother. However, I did sit and listen to the presentation…till the end. See you all next week. Moce.” (2021 Ophelia Participant)
“Thank you so much! This was so great and informational. Vinaka!” (2021 Ophelia Participant)
Accessing specialist mental health studies in our region can be difficult, and the WHO country guide for Adolescent Health notes that adolescent mental health and well-being are often overlooked. More than half the group reported that they had not had formal studies in working with children and young people, including within specialist mental health studies.
“Thank you so much for this important topic and yes staff are the most important resource in a work place.” (2021 Ophelia Participant
“It would be great to learn more in depth as well if we could have time to understand and being trained on how to use any particular assessment tool so that we could use it in our clinical practice.” (2021 Ophelia Participant)
With a young demographic in our region and with adolescences as the foundational period in the lives of individuals and for the health of our community, it is crucial that health workers will have a good understanding of children and young people’s health and well being. Additionally, with the majority of mental health providers providing services for the whole population, there is even more motivation for prevention, early detection and treatment of problems, and the opportunity to set a pattern of healthy lifestyles and reduce morbidity, disability and premature mortality later in adulthood.
This program builds on the collaboration between St. Vincent’s, Fiji University’s College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, and RANZCP’s Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists. Further workshops are planned with a strong commitment from these 3 organisations to training and education of health professionals in the Pacific region.
RANZCP presenters during 2021 Ophelia Training sessions
While the current context is different and evolving, previous experiences with pandemics will indicate that preventing suicide needs urgent consideration within the COVID-19 Response.
The Lancet reportsthat suicide is likely to become a more pressing concern as the pandemic spreads and has longer-term effects on the general population. (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30171-1/fulltext)
The article gathers public health responses to mitigating suicide risks, including:
The article calls for continuing research and international collaboration especially drawing on the experience of national strategies to provide a strong basis for suicide prevention.
Psychology Tools have put together a free online guide called “Living with worry and anxiety amidst global uncertainty.” https://www.psychologytools.com/articles/free-guide-to-living-with-worry-and-anxiety-amidst-global-uncertainty/
Psychology Tools’ is a UK online resource for English speaking communities. The aim is for therapists worldwide have access to the high-quality evidence-based tools they need to conduct effective therapy, and to be a reliable source of psychological self-help for the public.
“Everyone worries to some degree, and some thinking ahead can help us to plan and cope. There is no ‘right’ amount of worry. We say that worry becomes a problem when it stops you from living the life you want to live, or if it leaves you feeling demoralised and exhausted.”
This resource provides evidence based psychoeducation about normal and excessive worry, lots of normalization, and a selection of practical exercises that you, your clients, or anyone can use to manage worry and maintain well-being in these uncertain times.
The guide has practical strategies for maintaining balance in your life, speaking to yourself with compassion as well as noticing and limiting worry triggers
Mental Health and Behavioral Guidelines for Preparedness and Response to Coronavirus
The USA Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress is rapidly developing a range of resources that can be found here: https://www.cstsonline.org/resources/resource-master-list/coronavirus-and-emerging-infectious-disease-outbreaks-response
It is vital to keep in mind that effective public mental health measures will address numerous areas of potential distress, health risk behaviors, and psychiatric disease.
Areas of special attention include:
(1) the role of risk communication;
(2) the role of safety communication through public/private collaboration;
(3) psychological, emotional, and behavioural responses to public education, public health surveillance and early detection efforts;
(4) psychological responses to community containment strategies (quarantine, movement restrictions, school/work/other community closures);
(5) health care service surge and continuity; and
(6) responses to mass prophylaxis strategies using vaccines and antiviral medication.
Read more about the Mental Health Behavioral Guidelines Reponse to Coronavirus Outbreaks here: https://www.cstsonline.org/assets/media/documents/CSTS_FS_Mental_Health_Behavioral_Guidelines_Response_to_Coronavirus_Outbreaks.pdf.pdf
In a recently article with Lancet Psychiatry, mental health professionals from China, Hong Kong and Australia reflected on some practical strategies for timely mental health care for the 2019 novel coronavirous outbreak.
Read the full article here: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(20)30046-8/fulltext
In any biological disaster, themes of fear, uncertainty, and stigmatisation are common and may act as barriers to appropriate medical and mental health interventions. The key methods of developing urgent mental health capacity in the system were summarised as: